Multimedia exhibition explores Vietnam War-era activism

“Seeking Shelter: A Story of Place, Faith and Resistance,” a multimedia exhibition that tells a Rhode Island story of Vietnam War era activism and celebrates the healing power of community, will be featured at the McKillop Library Feb. 12 through April 15.

A public screening of Sue Hagedorn’s documentary film “Shelter from the Storm” will be presented at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12 in the library. An opening reception for the “Seeking Shelter” exhibition will follow. Hagedorn’s film explores the exhibition’s themes through the recollections of people who knew the story’s central figures well and have deep insight into Block Island as a place and as a community. Those themes are still relevant today.

“Seeking Shelter” recounts the story of Father Daniel Berrigan and his friend, theologian and civil rights lawyer William Stringfellow. Both belonged to an old American tradition of faith-based activism. During the tumultuous 1960s and long afterward, the two friends, both hard-working, prolific authors, were activist opponents of the war in Vietnam and campaigners for civil rights, social justice, nuclear disarmament and the environment.

The Seeking Shelter project is led by a group of Block Islanders who, like Berrigan and Stringfellow, treasure the island’s natural beauty and sense of community. The project received support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, The Roosa Fund, the Seedworks Film Foundation, The Puffin Foundation and a number of generous individuals.